Hi Softykitty. I think I know what my problem was. My supervisor was stuck with some ideas with previous PhD student and was not willing to accept anything from me. He was demotivating me and I was not strong enough to work hard or confront him. Moreover, my work depended a lot on some design and experimental work which I did not perform well. So to be honest I say it was 50-50 my fault and my supervisors fault the overall thing. My major problem was not concentrating to finish something and get somehow accepted results. Also when I am demotivated I do not work well. You can see my blog for more details :)

Yes it is possible but you may need to try harder. You can write your publication list in CV and write they are under review. When they are accepted, your chances increase. Just try hard keeping in mind the competition is high and getting someone from outside EU to EU is sometimes a concern. Also if you look for English speaking countries like Canada, USA and Australia the competition is hard but if you try and try you might get your dream. Good luck

Hi Softykitty. I am sorry that you had to go through this. I was exactly in the same situation. Every year I ask myself, should I quit now? I ended up spending 5 years with no PhD and then my contract finished and I had no material written, no new concepts and no good experimental results also. I say to myself I should have left after 1 years or even 4 years were better than 5.
I know exactly how you feel like no one else knows. I know that 6 months wasting is not nice and not easy. 4 1/2 years is still better than 5. But if I were you, I would look if I have something to write. If you can write a thesis whatever its quality, just write and submit and put all this behind. You do not know what will happen. My case was a bit different because the university here gives the PhD supervisor the power to allow you to submit or not. So I would not be able to submit until he sees I have enough work. The supervisor in Germany is the main (and practically the only) examiner. If you are in the UK, you can submit a complete thesis with the best quality you can and leave it for the examiners to decide. You may be surprised by passing with minor correction or even resubmit.

Hi. I am sorry for what you have been through. I think the best way to try to apply and contact supervisors. When it comes to an interview, you may explain that you had a health condition (without details) and you had to stop for a while. I agree that leaving a PhD is draw in applying for a new one but there is still a chance.
Another approach is to search for an RA role (if you have a Master) or work for a year outside academia and then decide what to do. By then they would ask more about your job rather than your incomplete PhD.

Congratulation for your good publication record in your PhD. Yes Postdoc funding is somehow challenging. I agree that searching for a research associate role is the best way. Contacting PI directly is unlikely to get you a role. Everyone is happy to take qualified Postdocs if they bring money. I think if you got a role, in one year or so you can apply for funding. By then you would have more experience. Usually the start is the hardest part. Good luck.

Hi. I am in favour of you taking the job. Looking for jobs during your PhD means that you do not really enjoy it. Quitting now is better than spending two more years depressed and maybe the end is not great.

Hi. I am sorry to say that your reasons to do a PhD were wrong and your reasons of quitting are also not good. Switching city does not sound for em as a good reason to quit a PhD. Furthermore, there is no easy way that guarantees someone to get rich otherwise all people would have done it. If you quit thinking this will lead to you becoming rich, this would be wrong.

Hi all. Being someone who started a PhD and was not able to complete it, I think you might want to know what I think I have done wrong. It could be useful to avoid it. I do not claim I know the way to paradise and I am sure I can tell you the way to avaoid hell.
Usually you read the stories of sucess to follow them. But let us now look on an unhappy story to try to learn from it. Usually bad experience is not shared.
My very first mistake was realising I have issue and still denying it or delaying confrontation. I listened to people who said. Oh this is normal. Usually this is PhD and blabla. I should have spotted the difference between "normal" worries and depression and major specific problems.
Actually the culture of a PhD is that most students go to have fun and conversation and at the mean time they "work". The average effective time I have seen in my group is about two hours per day. This might work for someone but not for all. I think the "fun" and "student" culture of PhD students could be dangerous sometimes.
Another problem is when I lose motivation, I tend not to work hard. I believe that working hard will lead to a successful PhD whatever bad supervision or lack of objectives or other "normal" problems are there.
Not being clear about my frustration was a bad idea. I do not like to complain but this is bad. I should have confronted my supervisor earlier.
Also writing notes is very important. All things and analyses which are not written are gone. Then you start from scratch again.
I will write again when I remeber other things.

Hi. Difficult to say without enough information. Why did you apply for a job in the first place while you still in PhD? do you have troubles with your supervisor?
What was your original plan before starting your PhD?

Yes I agree with Nad75. In addition, if the PI likes your work and the project cannot be extended, he/she might extend your contract if there is funding for another project. This has happened to me to transfer me to another funded project when my original funded project was about to end.

Quote From rewt: I think it the polite way to put is that my supervisors are very "European" and I am very "English" in how we approach conversations

I think I can guess they are "very south European" where talking direct is not common and the general attitude is not to criticise work unless things are really bad.
I agree with the opinions above about asking more question which requires specific answers and seeking other academics feedback.

Hi. I think it might be. I assume that you have to write a cover letter showing your motivation. If your motivation is getting an MA from a top university, you can write this. Otherwise it would sound unusual for the reviewers.

You know sometimes I feel we have rich discussions in the forum which are impossible to have with colleagues and friend.
I think I got a better understanding of the situation. I am not fully aware why your PhD did not go as expected but hey. Guess what? Completing to this stage and having done work which is according to research standards worth a PhD is a sign of strength not a sign of a wrong decision. Sometimes we hope for something but we get totally different thing but it is still fine.
Now back to MPhil / PhD, you have conducted a research which is according to Uni standards sufficient to be awarded a PhD. So why do you want to sell it for a lower price? And hey again, the PhD title is important. We have gone already long discussion abou it but a last reminder. Do not be the researcher with the "special" title. I have MPhil because blablabla. I started a PhD but .... I plan to do a PhD soon. Being "normal" sometimes helps.